Variations (Progressive Motif)

Paul Klee German, born Switzerland

Not on view

Klee gridded this small canvas in such a way that the design looks like slightly irregular graph paper or a pattern of parquetry boards. Due to a variation in the same motif—horizontally striped, light blue squares on the outside versus ivory-shaded ones with diagonal and crisscross lines toward the center—there emerges a subtly patterned image that anticipates Minimalist painting by about forty years.

Variations (Progressive Motif), Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno), Oil and watercolor on canvas

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